Category: International Development

Welcome to the second in a new series of episodes in which we are talking to women making a difference in this time of Covid-19.

Today Ziada and Mary Ann talk with Esua Goldsmith author of a new memoir, The Space between Black and White about writing and publishing a book about her own life, why it was so important to her to share the story of being mixed race and how that has impacted her and the challenges of launching a book in the context of this pandemic.

Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith is a writer, feminist activist and development consultant of English – Ghanaian heritage. In 1975 she was the first woman of colour to be elected President of Leicester University Student’s Union, while in 2001 she became the first woman of colour to be elected Chair of the Fawcett Society. In 1977-9 Esua served as one of the first black volunteers to be sent on Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Tanzania. During her career she has acted as Commissioner for the Women’s National Commission, Chair and Co-Founder of the Gender and Development Network, Vice-Chair of ActionAid UK, a Trustee of the Equality and Diversity Forum and a member of the UK Government delegation to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. After reconnecting with her Ghanaian father and heritage in her 40s, she was enstooled as Queen Mother of Development of her village in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2009.

You can find Esua via www.esuantsiwagoldsmith.com/ and purchase the book from Jacaranda Press: www.jacarandabooksartmusic.co.uk/collecti…nd-white (please buy directly from Jacaranda if you can as independent publishers like them need support especially during this pandemic).

This week we talk with Ernee Bee Neeplo from Formidable Initiatives in Liberia about her work with women and girls and particularly their work to address sexual violence and abuse.

Ernree has over twelve years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Cuttington University and a Bachelors’ degree in Sociology from the African Methodist University both in Liberia respectively. She has a wealth of experience in the public health sector and expertise in program designs, policy formulation, management and systems strengthening.

Ernree is a humanitarian, women’s rights activist, change-maker, an administrator and is evidence-based results oriented. She is an ethical leader, a woman of formidable intelligence, human-centered designer, open-minded and a reliable team player with strong interpersonal skills. She is skilled in organizational and programs development, projects management and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, training facilitation, research, among others.

Over the years, Ernree has founded, volunteered and worked with several community-based organizations, local and international NGOs making contributions aimed at increasing adolescents and young women’s access to sexual and reproductive health information and services including other positive health outcomes.

She is the founder of the Formidable Initiatives for Women and Girls, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing the rights of women and girls and providing them opportunities to rise above their challenges in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment.

She is currently the National Program Officer-Gender and SGBV at UNDP Liberia serving as the focal person for the EU/UN Spotlight Initiatives/Liberia.

Ernree is driven by a strong passion and commitment to youth development, gender equality and women’s empowerment. She envisions a society where youth especially girls can grow up to be healthy, socially and economically empowered leaders in their communities.

Find out more about Formidable Initiatives at www.fiwgliberia.org/

Esther Otieno works as Senior Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Manage with IRC Tanzania. She is based in Kigoma in North-Western Tanzania. This week she tells Ziada and Mary Ann all about her mental health work in Refugee Camps and what motivates and challenges her about it.

They talk about the passion Esther has for her work, the successes she has had in encouraging refugee communities to access mental health services and how she deals with challenges and looks after herself in her work.

Esther works with IRC Tanzania: https://www.rescue-uk.org/country/tanzania

Her project runs 5 wellness centres which have, to date, carried out over 14,000 consultations and mental health outreach staff working with the project have visited over 6000 homes to provide information about mental health and support the development of resilience and coping mechanisms.  The project has reached over 50,000 people in the community and made them aware of the mental health services and the existing referral pathways through outreach and awareness activities.

In our first episode of The Change Making Women Book Club, Ziada and Mary Ann have been reading Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee, the Liberian Peace Activist whose leadership helped bring an end to Liberia’s second civil war.

They introduce the Book Club talk about what they learnt from reading this story about a woman creating change in a time of war. They talk about how her honesty shows through and about the parts of her story that inspired and challenged them.

Each month we will be doing a show about a book written by a woman who has created change and talk about her story and why it inspires, motivates or challenges us. We will also be inviting listeners to get involved with this.

Read the Book: Mighty Be Our Powers – How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex Changed a Nation at War

Website: Leymah Gbowee Peace Foundation

Processed with VSCO with b2 preset

This week on the Podcast Mary Ann Clements talks to Sara Lim Bertrand from Proteknôn, a consultancy group and foundation she co-founded which is focused on the protection, care, and wellbeing of children internationally.

They discuss how the group came together, the strategies they use to enable flexible working across many geographies and how they blend consultancy work with activism about the issues they care about.

Sara also shares the three pillars that guide their work: Freedom, Collaboration and Principle and how the pillars impact the approach that Proteknôn take to carrying out projects for their clients.

Sara Lim Bertrand is a humanitarian and development professional with more than 17 years of programming experience in child protection, gender-based violence, education in emergencies and learning and development. For the last 13 years, she has developed strong technical and programmatic competencies in humanitarian action, systems building, protection in situations of migration and displacement, prevention and response to exploitation and abuse, case management, alternative care, community-based protection, child participation, psychosocial support, advocacy and supporting social change. Sara is also passionate about early childhood development, parenting education, mental health and disability inclusion. Notably, Sara combined her interest in design and technology by developing a handful of e-courses on the CPMS, CPRA, Child Protection Situation and Response Monitoring, Child Protection Case Management and Supervision, amongst others. Since 1996, she has worked directly in 18 countries. In addition, she provided high-quality, remote support to field-based child protection coordination groups in more than 40+ countries. Sara has a Master of Arts (MA) in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis in Community Development from Wheaton College’s Graduate School. She has also taken more than 50 supplemental courses in case management, child development, child protection, GBV, protection, research and social change. For her LinkedIn profile, click here.

Get in touch with Sara and Proteknôn

Website: www.proteknon.org
Facebook page: @proteknon
Twitter: @proteknon
Instagram: @proteknon

This week Ziada and Mary Ann speak with Ilana Landsberg-Lewis about how she become so interested in talking with Grandmothers, building global solidarity between them and sharing their voices. Ilana also shares with us why she is passionate about a feminist, egalitarian and anti-colonial models of the solidarity work and the significant – and often undervalued – contribution that older women have made to the world of humanitarian assistance and development.

Ilana Landsberg-Lewis has spent her entire adult life engaged in the struggle for the rights of women and girls. From her early days as a human rights lawyer to her years at UNIFEM, Ilana has worked with women’s groups around the world and has learned that no amount of so-called expertise can replace that of women at the frontlines of their own struggle for justice. Ilana has been the executive director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation since she founded it with her father in 2003. She has been deeply honored and grateful to learn from the indomitable grandmothers of this remarkable movement, the world over.

Connect with Ilana and her work:

Website: www.ilanalandsberglewis.com (you can also find out about the projects we discuss during the episode at www.stephenlewisfoundation.org and www.grandmotherscampaign.org)

Instagram: @ilana.lewis
Facebook: @grandmothersonthemove

This week Mary Ann talks to Alessandra Pigni author of ‘The Idealist’s Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout’ about the causes of burnout in the Humanitarian Sector, why you aren’t alone if you are experiencing it and why a mixture of strategies are the best way to address it

Alessandra Pigni is a humanitarian psychologist, organisational consultant and author of The Idealist’s Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout. After serving with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders in Palestine and China, she has dedicated her work to understanding the connection between meaningful work and burnout. She has been Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and her work has a wide following among humanitarian practitioners, activists, and academics.

Connect with Alessandra:

You can find her online at www.mindfulnext.org 
And on Twitter: @mindfulnext

This week we talk to Carrie Brownlee about financing international work for non-governmental organisations. We discuss the challenges of growth, sustainability and future planning, why fundraising and finance are part of the work and what she thinks needs to change in the sector in relation to resourcing.

Carrie qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Edinburgh in 2010. Following a one month volunteer trip to Zambia, she left Edinburgh to join the Finance team at Save the Children UK in London and during that time, studied towards a diploma in International Development at the University of London. Keen to continue volunteering her time, she was inspired to join the AbleChildAfrica Board of Trustees in 2013, becoming Treasurer in 2014. After more than 3 years at War Child UK, most recently as Head of Finance, Carrie moved to Concern Worldwide (UK) into the role of Director of Finance and Operations where she is responsible for Finance, HR, Compliance, IT and Facilities.

Find Carrie on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-brownlee-1178b453/

This week Mary Ann talks to Hannah Thompson about mothering and humanitarian work, the challenges of travelling and risky contexts when you are a mum and how becoming mothers has affected our approach to our work in the international development sector.

Hannah Thompson is a consultant whose work focuses on preventing sexual and gender-based violence as well as protecting children from violence, exploitation, and abuse; preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence; and providing education in fragile settings. Hannah has lived and worked in complex emergency, natural disaster, and developing country contexts, mostly in South and Southeast Asia and West Africa. She looks to understand how best to enable children to reach their full potential and how to ensure full gender equality – where women have economic and political power, men have the right to express emotions, and those of diverse sexual orientation or gender identity have rights on an equal footing to all. Hannah’s on-going learning in these areas drives her work and influences who she is as a mother.

Connect with Hannah:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-thompson-15023414/

Proteknon: https://www.proteknon.net/seniorassociates

Change Making Women © 2017